Recent Posts: News Buzz Musings

By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS The FBI’s investigation into collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election is getting closer to the president. On Thursday, May 26, 2017, the media reported that White House advisor and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner is a focus of the FBI‘s investigation. The […]

By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS Former FBI Director James Comey will definitely make a splash when he returns to Capitol Hill after Memorial Day. The Senate Intelligence Committee announced on Friday, May 19, 2017, that Comey will be testifying at a public hearing, the date has not been set. The FBI Director will be […]

By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS President Donald Trump is making his first public remarks on the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump commented on Thursday, May 18, 2017, during his joint press conference with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. The President called the Russia investigation […]

By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS The Department of Justice headed to Democratic Congressional demands and appointed a special counsel to investigate Russia’s interference with the 2016 presidential election. On Thursday evening, May 17, 2017, the Department of Justice announced that they appointed Former FBI Director Robert Mueller to conduct the Russia investigation. Two hours […]

By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS Former FBI Director James Comey was the downfall for 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s presidential aspirations and now he might be President Donald Trump’s downfall. On Tuesday, May 16, 2017, the New York Times reported that after Comey met with the president at the White House he wrote a […]

By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS President Donald Trump is taking his former reality show’s tagline “you’re fired” and applying it to his governing. Trump fired embattled FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday evening, May 9, 2017. Trump quickly created a firestorm in Washington over his abrupt firing of Comey. Comey just testified that the […]

By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS For better or worse, the Republicans delivered on their promise to repeal and replace Obamacare. On Thursday afternoon, May 4, 2017, the House of Representatives passed a revised version of the American Health Care Act with a vote of 217 to 213, with 20 Republicans voting against the bill […]

By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS Republicans in Congress failed to gain enough support to put the American Health Care Act to a vote on Friday, March 24, 2017. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan discussed with President Donald Trump the lack of votes, and they agreed to pull the bill. Conservatives in the House […]

By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS Obamacare health care remains the law in the nation after Congressional Republicans failed to put their replacement the American Health Care Act (AHCA) to a vote. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-WI was unable to secure enough votes to pass the GOP replacement bill and pulled the bill […]

ISRAEL POLITICAL BRIEF ISRAEL POLITICAL BRIEF: ISRAEL NEWS PM Netanyahu’s Remarks at the Start of the Weekly Cabinet Meeting 25/12/2016 Source: PMO, 12-25-16 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting, made the following remarks: [Translated from Hebrew] “I share ministers’ feelings, anger and frustration vis-à-vis the unbalanced resolution that is […]

ISRAEL POLITICAL BRIEF ISRAEL POLITICAL BRIEF: ISRAEL NEWS U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power’s Full Speech at the Security Council Source: Haaretz, 12-23-16 The full text of Samantha Power’s address to the Security Council concerning the resolution against Israeli settlements. The full text of Samantha Power’s address to the United Nations Security Council concerning […]

ISRAEL POLITICAL BRIEF ISRAEL POLITICAL BRIEF: ISRAEL NEWS Remarks by President Obama at Memorial Service for Former Israeli President Shimon Peres Source: WH, 9-30-16 Mount Herzl Jerusalem 11:14 A.M. IDT PRESIDENT OBAMA: Zvia, Yoni, Chemi and generations of the Peres family; President Rivlin; Prime Minister Netanyahu; members of the Israeli government and the Knesset; heads […]

ISRAEL POLITICAL BRIEF ISRAEL POLITICAL BRIEF: ISRAEL NEWS PM Netanyahu’s Speech at the United Nations General Assembly Source: PMO, 9-22-16 PM Netanyahu’s Speech at the United Nations General Assembly Photo by Kobi Gideon, GPO Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, What I’m about to say is going to shock you: Israel has a bright future at […]

ISRAEL POLITICAL BRIEF ISRAEL POLITICAL BRIEF: ISRAEL NEWS Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel Before Bilateral Meeting Source: WH, 9-21-16 Lotte New York Palace Hotel New York, New York 12:58 P.M. EDT PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Mr. President, it’s very good to see you again. First, I want to thank you for […]

ISRAEL POLITICAL BRIEF ISRAEL POLITICAL BRIEF: ISRAEL NEWS PM Netanyahu’s Remarks at the Memorial Ceremony for Those Who Fell During their Foreign Service Source: PMO, 10-10-16 The names of the 16 people from our Foreign Service who were killed during their service are engraved in iron and stone on the wall of commemoration behind me. […]

Full Text Obama Presidency June 18, 2015: President Barack Obama’s Statement on the Charleston Church Shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina Transcript

POLITICAL TRANSCRIPTS

OBAMA PRESIDENCY & THE 114TH CONGRESS:

Statement by the President on the Shooting in Charleston, South Carolina

THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. This morning, I spoke with, and Vice President Biden spoke with, Mayor Joe Riley and other leaders of Charleston to express our deep sorrow over the senseless murders that took place last night.

Michelle and I know several members of Emanuel AME Church. We knew their pastor, Reverend Clementa Pinckney, who, along with eight others, gathered in prayer and fellowship and was murdered last night. And to say our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families, and their community doesn’t say enough to convey the heartache and the sadness and the anger that we feel.

Any death of this sort is a tragedy. Any shooting involving multiple victims is a tragedy. There is something particularly heartbreaking about the death happening in a place in which we seek solace and we seek peace, in a place of worship.

Mother Emanuel is, in fact, more than a church. This is a place of worship that was founded by African Americans seeking liberty. This is a church that was burned to the ground because its worshipers worked to end slavery. When there were laws banning all-black church gatherings, they conducted services in secret. When there was a nonviolent movement to bring our country closer in line with our highest ideals, some of our brightest leaders spoke and led marches from this church’s steps. This is a sacred place in the history of Charleston and in the history of America.

The FBI is now on the scene with local police, and more of the Bureau’s best are on the way to join them. The Attorney General has announced plans for the FBI to open a hate crime investigation. We understand that the suspect is in custody. And I’ll let the best of law enforcement do its work to make sure that justice is served.

Until the investigation is complete, I’m necessarily constrained in terms of talking about the details of the case. But I don’t need to be constrained about the emotions that tragedies like this raise. I’ve had to make statements like this too many times. Communities like this have had to endure tragedies like this too many times. We don’t have all the facts, but we do know that, once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun. Now is the time for mourning and for healing.

But let’s be clear: At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it. I say that recognizing the politics in this town foreclose a lot of those avenues right now. But it would be wrong for us not to acknowledge it. And at some point it’s going to be important for the American people to come to grips with it, and for us to be able to shift how we think about the issue of gun violence collectively.

The fact that this took place in a black church obviously also raises questions about a dark part of our history. This is not the first time that black churches have been attacked. And we know that hatred across races and faiths pose a particular threat to our democracy and our ideals.

The good news is I am confident that the outpouring of unity and strength and fellowship and love across Charleston today, from all races, from all faiths, from all places of worship indicates the degree to which those old vestiges of hatred can be overcome. That, certainly, was Dr. King’s hope just over 50 years ago, after four little girls were killed in a bombing in a black church in Birmingham, Alabama.

He said they lived meaningful lives, and they died nobly. “They say to each of us,” Dr. King said, “black and white alike, that we must substitute courage for caution. They say to us that we must be concerned not merely with [about] who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers. Their death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American Dream.

“And if one will hold on, he will discover that God walks with him, and that God is able to lift you from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope, and transform dark and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of inner peace.”

Reverend Pinckney and his congregation understood that spirit. Their Christian faith compelled them to reach out not just to members of their congregation, or to members of their own communities, but to all in need. They opened their doors to strangers who might enter a church in search of healing or redemption.

Mother Emanuel church and its congregation have risen before –- from flames, from an earthquake, from other dark times -– to give hope to generations of Charlestonians. And with our prayers and our love, and the buoyancy of hope, it will rise again now as a place of peace.